The commune chairman 'magically' transformed 3,000 square meters of public land into his own private land.
Three individuals, all former commune officials, have been charged with abusing their positions and authority while performing their official duties.
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| The three suspects (from left to right): Le Xuan Thao, Ngo Van Luu, and Ngo Xuan Dung. |
According to initial investigation documents: In 2013, Mr. Le Xuan Thao, then Chairman of the People's Committee of Ha Vinh commune, Ha Trung district, instructed Mr. Ngo Xuan Dung, then a land cadastral officer of Ha Vinh commune, to create fraudulent documents requesting the People's Committee of Ha Trung district to issue land use rights certificates for residential land and perennial crop land to Mr. Thao's family on public land belonging to Ha Vinh commune in Hamlet 2 (currently known as Quy Vinh hamlet).
To avoid public scrutiny, Mr. Thao asked Mr. Ngo Van Luu, the village head, to handle the paperwork. Once the land use certificate was issued, Mr. Luu would transfer the ownership to Mr. Thao.Following Mr. Thao's instructions, Mr. Ngo Xuan Dung fabricated all these documents and registered them under Mr. Ngo Van Luu's name. On September 13, 2013, the People's Committee of Ha Trung District issued a land use right certificate to Mr. Ngo Van Luu's household for an area of 3000m2, including both residential land and land for perennial crops.
On April 18, 2014, Mr. Ngo Van Luu completed the procedures to transfer ownership of the aforementioned land plot to Mr. Le Xuan Thao as initially agreed. On May 13, 2014, the People's Committee of Ha Trung District issued a land use right certificate to Mr. Thao's family for that public land plot in Ha Vinh commune.
The issuance of a land use right certificate to Mr. Ngo Van Luu's household based on these fraudulent documents by the People's Committee of Ha Trung District, and subsequent transfer to Mr. Le Xuan Thao, is completely contrary to the Land Law and has caused hundreds of millions of dong in losses to the State.
Based on the evidence collected, on August 13th, the Criminal Investigation Department for Corruption, Economic and Official Crimes of the Thanh Hoa Provincial Police issued a decision to initiate a criminal case and prosecute the suspects to investigate and clarify the wrongdoings of three officials of the Ha Vinh People's Committee, in order to bring them to justice.
